


The Ghost of Stern Theatre Remix

by Evanna_Adams



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Multi, Stuckony Server Remix Event
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 16:18:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21256193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evanna_Adams/pseuds/Evanna_Adams
Summary: What if Tony came in to catch his parents' killer?





	The Ghost of Stern Theatre Remix

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JacarandaBanyan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JacarandaBanyan/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Ghost of Stern Theater](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19324393) by [JacarandaBanyan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JacarandaBanyan/pseuds/JacarandaBanyan). 

Bucky pressed his cold lips to Steve’s. Steve gasped at first but then surged forward, claiming Bucky’s lips again. His lips were soft and cool, but the kiss warmed Steve to the core. He wrapped his arms around Bucky’s waist, tugging him closer. He came easily, hesitant hands cupping Steve’s cheeks.

The door banged open and the two of them jumped apart. Steve shot up, immediately standing in front of Bucky. He was too small to actually hide him, but at least it drew the stranger’s attention to him first.

The stranger was impeccably dressed in a Brioni suit, red tinted sunglasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. It was only when he moved forward that Steve noticed Natasha standing in the hallway.

“I’m guessing you’re Mr. Stark,” Steve started, holding a hand out to the man.

Tony nodded and took his hand. He shared a look with Natasha, pulling off his sunglasses. Turning back to Steve, he took a step towards Bucky, but Steve didn’t budge from his position, effectively standing between the two men. Tony’s eyebrows shot up slightly. “You know the man whom you’re protecting is going to prison.”

Steve gulped and immediately looked at Natasha. “Nat, please.”

She looked apologetic for a second before her face blanked.

Steve felt a tremor run through him. He stood tall and faced Tony. “Please, he was tortured.”

Tony slipped his sunglasses back on and huffed softly. “He’s killed people, Mr. Rogers. Either way, he’s a witness if nothing more and the police will take him for questioning. Even I can’t get in the way of that.”

Steve ground his teeth together. “Mr. Stark-“

Before he could say anything else, the police shouldered into the room, taking hold of Bucky. He didn’t resist even as Steve tried to shout the policemen down. He tried to hold onto Bucky but he was knocked out. Steve blacked out.

~*~

Steve was floating. He made a small sound as he shifted and felt the softness around him. It was comfortable but unfamiliar. His eyes flew open at the thought. All his life had been hard mattresses and uncomfortable spaces but never this level of comfort.

The room around him was light and the sunlight poured in from the wall-length windows. One side of the room was only windows. The other side had a giant TV and the third had dark wood cupboards. He was on a memory foam mattress and the comforter over him was featherlight and the warmest thing he had ever been under. Sitting up, he looked around better. He was in one of the most modern rooms he had ever seen. And by just a look outside the window, he could see that he was in one of the highest buildings of… New York. He was in New York. The skyline gave it away.

He got up carefully. Maybe this was a dream. How could he have ended up in what seemed like the most expensive hotel he had ever seen. He had just stepped out of the room when he noticed someone sitting in what would constitute as the living area. The man looked around and Steve saw that it was Tony Stark.

He immediately stood taller. “Where am I?” he asked, warily.

“My home,” Tony replies, simply. He gets up to fetch Steve water, handing it over.

Steve accepts it, drinking it slowly. “How long have I been here?”

“Since last night. Nat and I brought you back here because the theatre would be closing down soon. Pierce and the other owners have been implicated.”

“Bucky?” Steve murmured weakly.

“He’s in custody. I don’t know anything else.”

“Mr. Stark, you have to listen to me! Please! Bucky didn’t do this-“

“Mr. Rogers!” Tony said harshly. “That man killed my father. And my mother! There were finger marks around her throat. They covered it up but I knew something was up! He choked the life out of my mother and shot my father pointblank. Do you still think I can just forgive their murderer?”

Steve reeled back, shocked. “I… I-I-I’m really sorry for your loss, but, please, please, he didn’t do it.”

“Mr. Rogers, I’m not the authority. Besides, I have work to do. You can show yourself out when you want.”

~*~

Steve left the second he could and walked down to the police station. He walked up to the receptionist. She was an older lady who took her time to look up over her glasses at Steve. She wouldn’t let him see Bucky because he was in custody. He had known that would be the case, but he had hoped. They would only let him see the state sanctioned lawyer. Steve asked to see him. But not being a relative, he wasn’t given the authority. Instead he sat near the reception, waiting.

A haggard looking man with greying hair walked and smiled at the receptionist. Steve heard the words ‘Stern Theatre’ and was on his feet quick as lightning. He waited restlessly for the man to finish with the receptionist before intercepting him.

“Hi,” he said breathlessly.

The man stared at him in askance, seeming annoyed.

“I’m Steve. Are you here for the Stern Theatre case?” he questioned.

“Yes. And you are?”

“Someone who knows a lot about what happened.”

The man eyed him and then taking hold of his arm tugging him to a side. “Who are you and what do you know?”

“I’m Steve Rogers. I am one of the dancers with the Stern Theatre. I was assigned a room in the basement. It is a very weird place. The rooms are mechanized and move around. I met Bucky there. He didn’t even know his own name at first. He-he helped me. He would bring me balm for my feet. Anyway, he asked me to leave because I was in danger. The man who owns the theatre had taken Bucky and hidden him. They experimented on him and brainwashed him to kill people. He didn’t even know he was doing it when he was killing them. He’s victim here! He took me to where they were experimenting on more people who all died. They had a collar on him which would knock him out if he did anything wrong. Please, please, please, _please_, help him!”

He grit his teeth and nodded tightly. “You need to be safe,” he said, patting Steve’s shoulder. “Powerful people will be after you. Do you have a safe place where you can be?”

Steve shook his head. “But I’ll figure something out.”

“You will be the key to this case, Steve.”

“O-okay. I’ll be safe.”

“I’m Bruce Banner, by the way.”

“Could you tell Bucky that I’m here and I will save him?”

“I’ll pass the message on.” Bruce nodded at him and then walked away.

Steve watched him leave. He knew he should leave but he really had no idea where to go. Where could he be safe? It wasn’t the theatre. They had already wanted to kill him and now they had great incentive. They knew that he would tattle.

He was still near the receptionist when Bruce came back. He didn’t look too surprised to see him and nodded at him to follow him outside. They walked out together a few feet apart. Bruce led him to a park where they would be relatively away from the public gaze.

“Bucky has asked you to leave and stay safe. You need to be away from this.” He held his hands up when Steve tried to retort. “He wants to confess. It is his choice and he apologizes but he takes the blame.”

“You have to help him.”

“I can’t if he doesn’t want to be saved. I’m sorry.”

Steve was left standing there.

~*~

In the commotion at the theatre, Steve was able to sneak in and get his things before anyone noticed him. He bid goodbye to Sam who made Steve promise to ask him for help. Sam wasn’t sure where he’d go next, but he had a few prospects from other theatres that he was considering. Steve couldn’t even imagine joining another theatre till Bucky was free. Sam understood and gave him a hug before Steve left.

There was only one place that he could be safe and so he found himself in front of another receptionist.

“Please, ma’am. Just let Mr. Stark know that it’s me.”

The receptionist was shaking her head, but Natasha crossed by and tugged Steve to a side.

He glared at her.

“I know you’re angry. But I believe you. I can take you to Tony. Come on.”

Steve didn’t respond but followed her up the elevator. She talked to someone called JARVIS as they were led up to the penthouse. Tony was sitting there with a tablet. He noticed Natasha and smiled at her.

“I thought you’d left for the night.”

“I caught a stray,” she answered with a smirk.

Tony saw Steve and raised his eyebrows. “Here to shout some more?”

“Well, eventually. But right now, I need a safe place.”

Tony frowned. “Why?”

“I-I might know things.”

“Sit,” Tony shot at him, waiting for him to sit on the couch before sitting opposite him. “Talk.”

Steve told him everything he knew and how he had met Bucky. Tony grew thoughtful and even Natasha listened in carefully. Their expressions didn’t give anything away. Steve stopped and looked at them waiting for judgment.

“It is hard for me to believe that your friend can’t be incriminated-“

“What would it take for you to believe me!”

“Maybe real evidence and not just words? Your friend killed my mother! You can’t expect me to believe that he had no idea what he was doing.”

A collar landed at Tony’s feet. “Check this. You’re a science man right? Find out what that does.”

Tony picked it up carefully and looked it over. “What is this?”

“This is what they used to control Bucky.”

Tony quieted, looking at the collar carefully. “You can stay here.”

“Does that mean you’ll help save Bucky?”

“Take what you can get, Mr. Rogers. JARVIS will take you to your room.”

Steve took that as much as a win he could have managed.

~*~

Tony hadn’t been down to the guest room that Steve had been given but a week later, Steve found him outside the door looking determined. Steve stepped back to let him in. Tony entered looking around.

“You know I own this Tower but I’ve never seen the guest rooms. I let the contractor and Pepper, the CEO, take care of all this. I’m not into decisions. I prefer doing the R&D.”

“Mr. Stark, can I do something for you?”

Tony turned around his foot and eyed Steve, taking off his sunglasses. “I went to talk to Bucky.”

Steve felt his heart skip a beat. Tony had listened to him. He had actually tried to follow through. During his stay at the Tower, Steve had Googled Tony. Not only was he privy to all the good things that the company was doing under Tony and Pepper but also saw some racy things from Tony’s younger years that had given him mixed feelings. He felt his anger dissolve in seconds.

“I checked out the collar. You were right. It could shock a man enough to knock him out for a long time,” he continued, pacing the room. “So, I went to talk to your friend. He doesn’t sound like a killer. So, I need you to show me the cryo.”

Steve could only nod.

~*~

Things moved fast once Tony had seen the insides of the theatre. They took their time and figured out the mechanics of the rooms below that had all the levers in the cryo room. They collected enough evidence for the police to start the case. The results from doctor’s tests and juxtaposed against those from the corpses was enough to show that Bucky had been experimented on.

It took a while with lawyers from Stark Industries working on the case but finally Bucky was free, and the owners of Stern Theatre were in prison for life. The theatre would be closed down and the dancers and the staff were applicable for severance pay.

Bucky and Steve kissed in the hallway when he was finally free. Tony eyed them from a corner, putting his sunglasses back on as he led them out and handled the press. He let them stay at the Tower without rent till they could get back on their feet.

In the last few months while Tony and Steve had worked on getting Bucky free, they had gotten closer but with Bucky back, Tony became distant, and Steve felt a pang of loss. They had become friends. They had argued and fought but they were always on the same side since the cryo. Of course, how could Steve complain, he had Bucky. And it was great. It really was. Bucky was amazing and even as he got better, he poured every part of himself into his relationship with Steve.

~*~

“You love him,” Bucky noted.

Tony looked up sharply as he worked on the metal arm. He set the tool aside. “Who?”

“Steve.”

“I don’t,” he replied picking up a different tool to get back to work.

“He loves you too.”

“Mr. Barnes, he loves you.”

“He does. But he loves you too.”

“I think I have fixed your arm as much as I could for now,” Tony announced getting up.

“It doesn’t have to be just the two of us you know.”

And with that Bucky was gone.

~*~

The Stern Theatre wasn’t The Stern Theatre anymore. Steve stared up at the building.

“What?”

“It’s the Maria Stark Theatre,” Tony said, barely able to hide his smile. “And you’re the Principal Dancer. The first of many of course.”

“Why?”

“She loved this place. She wouldn’t want it to go to ruins. Of course, we’ll rebuild. Everything. We’ll knock it down and then-“

Steve kissed him. “Thank you.”

Tony stared. “Wha-“

“I talked to Bucky and well, I wanted to wine and dine you but… You’ve been so kind to us the last few months, Tony. We wouldn’t be here without you. And we kind of don’t want a life without you in it.”

What more could Tony do except kiss Steve then.


End file.
